Economic Impacts of Commercial Fishing

photo of big fishing boat

This report summarizes the economic impacts of commercial fishing in the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CINMS) directly and indirectly through the multiplier process, on local county economies. Using the California Ocean Fish Economic Harvesting Model (COFEH), the report provides estimates for total output, value added, total income and employment. Annual harvest revenues are estimated according to 10 by 10 minute blocks from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) overlaid with sanctuary boundaries. Catch is reported to through the California Fishery Information System (CFIS) according to vessel, species, gear type, port of landing, and block where catch was made.

Download the Executive Summary for a summary of report findings

Introduction

As part of the Socioeconomic Research and Monitoring Program for the CINMS, this report supports priorities to document connections between sanctuary resource uses and local, regional and national economies. Using CDFW CFIS data, this report addresses how much California commercial catch landed at California ports comes from the CINMS. Economic data presented is for years 2000 through 2012. Data on trends in fishery profiles is presented for years 2000 to 2012.

Download the fact sheet for a summary of economic findings

Chapter 1: Economic Impacts of the Commercial Fishing Catch in the CINMS

Chapter 1 describes the results of applying the COFEH model to landings from the CINMS. Harvest revenue (what the fishermen receive when they land their catch at various California ports) is converted to estimates of total output, value added, income and employment (measured in number of full and part-time jobs) using the multipliers in the COFHE Model for each county. Results are presented for years 2010, 2011, 2012 and the three-year average.

Download the fact sheet for a summary of fishery profile findings

Chapter 2: Profiles of the Commercial Fisheries in the CINMS

Chapter 2 provides a profile of commercial fisheries in CINMS. Profile elements include: distribution of catch (pounds and value or harvest revenue converted to 2013 dollars using the consumer price index) for year 2012 by species/species groups; trends in catch for the top five species/species groups for years 2000 through 2012; catch by gear type for years 2010, 2011 and 2012; port dependence on catch from CINMS (i.e. the percent of total harvested fish landings at the port from CINMS); and fishing vessel dependence on their catch from the CINMS (i.e. catch from the CINMS catch as a percent of total fishing revenues from all California waters).

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Chapter 3: Special Issues

Chapter 3 is devoted to "Special Issues." Sanctuary management submitted several requests for special views of the commercial fishing catch from the CINMS to support management efforts. Here, CINMS management requested special tabulations for the species group groundfish and gear type "Longlines."

Download the report: Economic Impact of the Commercial Fisheries
on Local County Economies from Catch in the Channel Islands, 2010, 2011 and 2012